Ross
Ross is the Chair of the Fife Voluntary Group. He has been involved in organising and running several awareness raising events for Diabetes UK, including a day of workshops for local people to learn more about diabetes and how to live with the condition. They arranged for various health care professionals to come along and run session on different aspects of living with diabetes and over 400 people attended the day.
Ross volunteers because he wants to make sure that the best care is available for people living with diabetes. There is lots of good work being done, but even in his local area there is unequal coverage of services. He gets a real buzz from helping people to find useful information and the feedback they give, he enjoys the opportunity to make a difference.
Aileen
When Aileen was diagnosed with diabetes she didn’t receive any information about the condition. She eventually found information about her local Voluntary Group, which she joined and soon realised that she was not the only one left on her own. Since then she has worked with other volunteers in the Group to ensure that GPs surgeries and clinics have packs containing information about living with diabetes that they can give out to people recently diagnosed with diabetes.
One of the things Aileen is particularly proud of is organising exercise classes for older people. To begin with the Voluntary Group funded the classes themselves, but they were really popular and the Group was able to persuade the local NHS Trust to take over the funding and running of the classes.
Aileen volunteers because it’s good fun and rewarding and it keeps her active and occupied in her retirement. The Group’s next project is to run a Young People’s Summit to bring together people in their teens and 20s with diabetes. They find it hard to get support, and can fall in the gap between being too old for children’s services and too young for adult services which are often geared towards older people.
Surjeet
After Surjeet was diagnosed with diabetes, he wanted to share his experiences and help others living with the condition. He helped found the Luton Diabetes Voluntary Group, which brings together people with diabetes to support each other and learn more about diabetes. He became Chair of the Group 3 years ago, and he works closely with the other members of the committee. As well as monthly meetings, the Group organise fundraising activities for Diabetes UK, including running successful Walks in the Park for six years in a row, which have raised over £15,000.
Surjeet has also personally taken part in sponsored events for Diabetes UK, including an expedition to the Everest Base Camp in the Himalayas, which raised £4,000. He gets particular satisfaction from supporting people to learn more about diabetes and how to care for themselves. Some of the money that Surjeet raised from his expedition to Everest was used to fund a place for a young person on a children’s holiday so that they would have a chance to meet other young people with diabetes, to share and learn in a fun environment.
Surjeet has lots of plans for the future to continue the work that the Luton Voluntary Group does. Their next project is to hold a large awareness event for their local south Asian community.
Janice
Janice volunteers in the Public Affairs and Press team in the Diabetes UK Central office. She has been a member of the team for the last 10 years and is responsible for the monitoring and distribution of specialist and local press coverage of diabetes. She’s also responsible for maintaining and monitoring the team’s yearly budget.
When Janice left paid employment in 1994 she wanted to do something to help and to do something useful with her spare time. She really enjoys her work with Diabetes UK and the Public Affairs and Press team have made her feel very much part of the team.
Janice feels that volunteering at Diabetes UK keeps her active and up to date with recent developments. Volunteering has as also provided her with the opportunity to meet people and gain new skills. She has also had the opportunity to go on training courses, as well as becoming involved in campaigning events that she would not have had the opportunity to do before.
She has volunteered in a number of different organisations over the last 42 years and Janice particularly enjoys the supportive and flexible arrangement offered by Diabetes UK. She hopes to continue her volunteering for many more years to come.
Now watch our video
If you would like to see what some of our other volunteers think about volunteering with Diabetes UK, please watch our video.